Disease surveillance is a practice by which the spread of disease is monitored in order to predict, observe, and minimize the harm caused by outbreak, epidemic, and pandemic situations. Most existing disease detection and monitoring systems rely on voluntary reporting of medical conditions by infected individuals or healthcare providers. Based on the information the monitoring bodies can observe and model the spread of the diseases.
Because the traditional approach to disease surveillance relies on voluntary participation, the information received is often incomplete. For example, many individuals fail to report infection. The individuals that do report are often unable to provide a complete description of their symptoms and activity leading up to and even after the diagnosis. Accordingly, this practice provides a limited sample of information that is often inadequate for effectively detecting and monitoring the spread of a disease. In addition, existing methods for predicting disease outbreak or monitoring infection spread often cannot effectively determine the current state of infection spread because information about infected individuals is generally received only after the individuals have been diagnosed and the condition is reported to the monitoring body. Such latencies make it difficult to preemptively warn individuals in high risk populations, and take preventative measures, especially when the infection is a rapidly spreading through the population.
People commonly conduct electronic transactions as they go about their daily lives, for example, using credit and debit cards to purchase goods and services from merchants and service providers. When conducting electronic transactions, either at a brick and mortar location or via the internet, the information concerning the transaction is collected and stored in one or more databases including the account holder's information, the location of the purchase, the time of the purchase and purchase data (e.g., purchase details), for instance, a merchant name, a type of merchant, product/service purchased and other such information regarding the transaction. The payment database of spending records is continuously updating in real time or near real time as consumers continue to make electronic purchases. Accordingly, payment transactions provide a continuously updating source of information from which disease outbreak in individuals, groups and populations can be detected and monitored and otherwise surveyed.
Accordingly, it is desirable for a system and method for accurately detecting and monitoring infection spread from a database of spending records and without reliance on individuals to actively volunteer information. Furthermore, it is desirable for a system that can detect and monitor disease spread in real time or near-real time. It should be apparent that, depending on applicable laws and regulations, a consumer can opt in, thereby consenting to the use of their payment records as well as any other personal information he or she provides to the systems for active surveillance of disease outbreak.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.